"work (order) to stop on the movement of metals by overhead crane...."

On a recent plant visit a worker commented that he was unaware that so many incidents occur in our industry. We explained that our industry is unique due to the variety and severity of incidents that are located in our plants. The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog has posted incidents about material handling. Here is a recent story.

A Canadian province is investigating the death of a worker killed on the job at a metal manufacturing plant.

Workplace Safety and Health inspectors were called to a metal processing plant when a worker was killed at the plant while working.

A Canadian metals processing company was given a temporary stop-work order to allow for an investigation in a fatal incident, a provincial spokeswoman confirmed in May 2016. "The employer must also conduct an internal investigation on the incident and submit the report to Workplace Safety and Health," the spokeswoman said.

Few details have been released on the death, but the province ordered work to stop on the movement of metals by overhead crane at the plant.

The company posted a notice on an online news site about the fatality that said all operations at the site have been temporarily shut down.

"We are devastated by this tragic accident," said the company’s president and COO, said in the notice.

"The employee who lost his life was a 12-year veteran of the company. Our immediate concerns are for the needs of his family, friends and colleagues," said the company’s president. The company said management is working closely with investigators as they look into the accident, the statement said.

We offer our sincere condolences to the deceased worker’s family, friends and coworkers. Though we do not what hazard caused the worker’s death. Due to the specificity of the stop work order we assume that it involves an overhead crane.

Overhead cranes in our plant vary in size, height, capacity, etc. Sometimes the variety of overhead cranes in our plants is overwhelming. 15 years ago most overhead cranes were operated by a crane operator up in the air, now most are operated remotely by crane operators on the ground. That shift has brought a new hazard to overhead cranes. Many times we have observed workers controlling overhead cranes from the ground and either through their surroundings or the lift themselves the operators become distracted. Worse yet is when we observe crane operators working close to or even beneath a suspended load. We have reported incidents where worker(s) were injured or killed when working directly beneath a suspended load.

Further compounding the problem is the chains or lifting straps that are used to lift a load. Our material in many instances have sharp edges that overtime can cut into nylon or synthetic straps reducing their capacity. Having a set procedure for daily strap inspection is vital on mitigating strap failures.

Below is a sling inspection poster for your review.

Please comment.